An original drawing of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and Christopher Robin playing Poohsticks is being auctioned in London.
The sketch by EH Shepard is to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London. According to Sotheby’s Dr Philip Errington, the drawing was the first version of “one of the most famous illustrations in children’s literature”.
The basis of the illustration was believed to be lost with the final drawing appearing in AA Milne’s “The House at Pooh Corner” but it had in fact been kept by Shepard’s wife Norah and passed onto a friend.
The sketch itself is 220mm by 141mm (9in by 5in), and is titled “For A Long Time They Looked At The River Beneath Them…”
The auction is to take place on December 10th and the sketch is estimated to be sold for between £30,000 and £50,000. It’s unsigned, with “some pin holes and minor spotting”.
It’ll be auctioned alongside an early colour illustration by Shepard, called “Christopher Robin’s Braces”.
Images via joyhog and Sotherby’s
